Anthony Atamanuik, James Adomian Courtesy of Comedy Central
Comedians Anthony Atamanuik and James Adomian performed their presidential impressions on Wednesday's episode.
Anthony Atamanuik and James Adomian starred in a very special episode of Chris Hardwick's @Midnight on Wednesday, taking on the personas of presidential candidates Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.
The hour-long episode served as the comedy game show's election special, starring the two comedians in what was billed as its "#MidnightDebate: Trump vs. Sanders." The Comedy Central show changed up its format from three comedians battling against one another in a series of comedy challenges to feature a pseudo-debate between Atamanuik's Trump and Adomian's Sanders. The duo appeared on the show to promote their upcoming Fusion special, Trump vs. Bernie, airing on April 27.
"For months voters across this great land of ours, and also Michigan, have been tasked with the incredible responsibility of choosing our next president," introduced Hardwick, "and boy have they been blowing it!"
"They're here to pander for your votes," he continued, welcoming Atamanuik (as Trump) to the stage to boos from the audience, to which the comedian replied, "get them out of here, waterboard them!"
Hardwick offered them both time for opening statements, which Adomian (Sanders) used to talk about his recent endorsements from some fake unions and "one half of Crosby, Stills Nash & Young." He added that he's doing really well with "shoppers who shop at Whole Foods who feel bad about shopping at Whole Foods."
Atamanuik (Trump) used his time to boast that he has "received a rose in every single ceremony," adding in several non sequiturs before a few random offensive phrases. The episode included questions from Twitter, which covered Trump's family, the middle class, Muppets and ghosts.
@Midnight's usual segment called "Hashtag Wars" went political in this episode with #IfIWerePresident, asking the two candidates (and fans playing along on Twitter) to share what the country would be like if they were in charge.
Atamanuik (Trump): "I am going to hunt down Rosie O'Donnell like Osama bin Laden."
Adomian (Sanders): "I would put the rich Wall Street bankers in the same prison that Magneto goes in, and I would institute a national Netflix account with one password!"
